Whether you’re a writer, a blogger, or an influencer, you understand fully the amount of crap (sorry, but it fits) you have to learn in order to be even remotely successful! One of the most important aspects of content creation is photography! Scrolling a fellow bloggers Instagram feed in absolute awe of their photos and wondering just how they do it! Well, here are a few suggestions to up your photography game.

Related Post: Free Stock Image Sites

Getting started on basic photography or improving upon what you already know doesn’t have to cost a fortune (it can though)! Folks often capture and post their photos using only their phones! But taking photographs with an actual camera creates an image of much better quality and resolution for sharing online.

As much as I’d love a shiny new DSLR camera, I just cannot justify the expense at this point in time. So I use my Samsung S10e (insert eye roll here) or my Canon Rebel Powershot camera. This camera is not top of the line, but it does the trick and I’m learning more and more as I actually use it. A camera like this is really more than enough for a beginner and is often sold (as below) to include a whole slew of accessories and what not to get a newbie photographer by.

More often than not though, all you really need are a few little accessories to help make your photos look just a little bit more professional.

Invest in a Tripod

One of the first items a professional photographer would recommend to a newbie would be a tripod. Most tripods will hold both a digital camera and a cell phone – like the example below. A big struggle with taking photos is trying to keep still enough to end up with a clear image – and a tripod will help alleviate that struggle!

Splurge on Lighting

My skills are not quite at the level that I need to invest in proper photography lighting – yet – I hope to reach that point in the very near future. These special lighting systems (per below) can help create more interest and dimension to your photos. For the time being, I plan to ensure I have plenty of natural light coming in (or take outdoor photos) until my photography expertise improves.

Please remember, if you are using a digital camera, to get a reasonable SD Card to store your precious images on. It’d be awful to lose the photos you worked so hard to get!

Never too late to learn

Folks always say that one is never to old to learn a new skill or to improve their knowledge surrounding any particular activity. Keeping that in mind, why not take an online course to increase your knowledge in photography, equipment, and editing, in order to be that much more on your photography game! Many sites, such as Pic Monkey, Creative Market, and Creative Live offer amazing lessons and downloads to help increase your confidence regarding photography.

Creative Market is a site that offers downloadable graphics, templates, fonts, and photography for personal and commercial use. They also offer flatlay images (similar to the one below) which can be downloaded for a small fee. These images are really great because all the work is done for you! Also check out sites like Unsplash and Pexels for free stock images.

Let’s not forget preset and filters

It has only been the last couple of years that I really started using presets and filters on my photos for both my blog and for social sharing. My goal was not to change my photos, but to simply enhance them a little. Lightroom has been a saving grace for photo editing! You simply upload your images to the app or site and from there you can crop, flip, and add a unique filter or preset to make the image your own. Check it out!

As I stated above – I am still learning – but these are a few tips that I’ve discovered that have really helped to improve my photo-taking skills. Hopefully, these simple suggestions will help to up your photography game as well!